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| -Short Attention Span Theater- |
| EU regulators level anti-trust allegations against Microsoft |
| 2003-08-07 |
| not WOT, but what the heck... European regulators are once again targeting Microsoft, saying the software company is trying to control the market for low-end servers and media players. The European Commission, the anti-trust arm of the European Union, said Wednesday that surveys of over 150 companies using Microsoft products indicated that "abuses are still ongoing." So, what does that mean?? Bribe wasn’t large enough? The EU alleged that Microsoft is using the dominant position of Windows in the personal computer market to move into the market for low-end servers. European regulators also said the software giant is pushing out rival media players by installing its own products into Windows. The EU can slap a fine of up to 10 per cent of worldwide sales against anti-trust violators. A Microsoft spokesperson called the EU action "unfortunate". The EU has already suffered three court defeats in previous anti-trust cases against Microsoft. And here comes #4... |
| Posted by:Raphael |
| #9 The city of Munich decided to drop Microsoft and go Linux, other German cities to follow. |
| Posted by: True German Ally 2003-8-7 4:31:48 PM |
| #8 And don't suggest Linux. Heard in various systems departments: "Linux is cheaper only if your time is free". |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2003-8-7 3:04:01 PM |
| #7 "Long on diplomats, politicians, and lawyers; short on productivity." That's Europe's entire problem - there are so many bureaucracies, so many laws, that innovation and entrepreneurship is totally stifled, and progress in ANY field is virtualy non-existent. There's also a level of common sense in Europe that approaches triple negative numbers. Another idea that the European Union is going to have to drop damned soon is that they are the WORLD Arbitrators, and can do anything, anywhere, against anyone, for anything at all. Either that, or there needs to be a VERY BIG BOOM in Brussels. Talk about inflated egos!!!!! |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2003-8-7 1:17:39 PM |
| #6 I'm the resident Apple jihadi here (you'll pry my one-button mouse out of my cold, dead fingers!), but even I have some sympathy for Microsoft on this one. How 'bout having the EU document the alleged abuses in a courtroom? Whatever one thought of the DOJ going after Microsoft, in the end one had a legal findings and a judgment. What the Euro Commission is trying to do is nothing more than squeeze MS -- "agree with us or we'll fine you!" Nuts to that. PD (I can't bring myself to call him *com) is right, this is the tobacco war all over again. I can only imagine "EU-OS" (pronounced "eeuuuu-os": could it possibly work as well as the EU itself does? Can anyone imagine the install procedure and the software? "To continue installation, please provide the following three pages of information, a blood and semen sample, and 70% of next year's income (abort/retry/die)". The possibilities are endless! And don't suggest Linux. Linux by definition is "open", which the EU will never be. |
| Posted by: Steve White 2003-8-7 12:34:58 PM |
| #5 Wow - cool, mojo! Can you imagine the incredible expense and grief and time and retraining and a hundred other issues - if MS just said "fine, fuckoff" and pulled up stakes in every EU country? Tom's point about the amount demonstrates the EU's limitless arrogance, too. This certainly has the look and feel of an opportunistic copycat legal rape of a cash-rich US company. Can you say "tobacco" or "guns" or "McDonalds" - ad infinitum ad nauseum. One thing is clearer than clear - the world has become a wannabee gutless-turd loser's paradise - and it doesn't pay to become too successful. Unless you're a lawyer, of course. |
| Posted by: ·com 2003-8-7 12:15:42 PM |
| #4 So, what if MS said "fine, we won't sell any software in Europe", and stuck to it? Wouldn't they be squeezin' out little blue bricks then, eh? "No updates for you!" screams the software nazi... |
| Posted by: mojo 2003-8-7 10:39:42 AM |
| #3 "not WOT, but what the heck..." Just wait till the Apple jihadies show up... |
| Posted by: Steve 2003-8-7 10:31:14 AM |
| #2 "a fine of up to 10 per cent of worldwide sales" That's interesting: not EU sales, but worldwide sales. So the companies with territories larger than the EU can pay higher fines than companies solely in the EU. Anybody think that would be fair? "abuses are still ongoing." Got a problem? Get a different operating system. Buy an EU computer with an EU operating system. Sheeesh! Long on diplomats, politicians, and lawyers; short on productivity. |
| Posted by: Tom 2003-8-7 10:30:47 AM |
| #1 EU regulators level anti-trust allegations against Microsoft This is the EU's way of hamstringing American companies that European firms can't compete with. Maybe we need to start going after Airbus and European firms without plants here. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2003-8-7 9:12:28 AM |